


In His Heart

by Buywood



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Korrasami - Freeform, Korrasami is the background ship, M/M, Wuko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:47:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28094145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buywood/pseuds/Buywood
Summary: Mako’s afraid to admit his feelings about Wu, but he may have to when his conversational skills come up short.
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato, Mako/Prince Wu (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53





	In His Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Written on my phone because of tech issues, bear with me

Sunsets often manage to worm themselves into peoples hearts. Easy enough, right? They’re beautiful, constant, enduring, and more often then not, they’re linked to a warm, pleasant memory that took place on a warm, pleasant evening.

Much like sunsets, this man has - somehow - wormed his way into Mako’s heart. Personally, Mako has no idea how - it’s been a while since he’s seen Wu, after all - and sometimes he wonders if maybe it’s the absence talking, if he’s building Wu up in his head to be something bigger then he is. 

Standing at the docks on the far side of Republic City, watching a large passenger boat pull in, listening to the glass-shattering horns of the nearby boats, Mako continues to wonder. After all, there’s no way he- no. He won’t say it. It’s not true, the feelings don’t exist, no need to think about it. At all.

Of course, that doesn’t stop him from thinking about it. What does stop him from thinking - momentarily, anyway - is the sight of Korra and Asami walking up to the docks, Asami gazing affectionately at Korra as Korra takes in the excitement of the docks. Korra’s never been one to miss out on excitement, and Asami’s never been one to miss out on time with Korra. Neither of them enjoy missing out on time with each other, actually - it’s one of the reasons they go so well together.

“Hey, Mako!” Korra waves and, like an excited seal, bounces over to where Mako stands, Asami trotting gracefully alongside her.

“How’ve you been, Mako?” There’s a crease between asami’s eyebrows, and though Mako’s touched, he can’t help being a little annoyed - he can handle himself, after all.

But he smiles and answers all the same - they’re his friends, how could he possibly ask them not to care about him? “I’m good. Excited to see Wu; it’s been a while.”

Korra grins, and it’s a wide, wicked grin. Whatever she was planning on saying - in relation to the grin, of course - is prevented by Asami pointing as another horn blares, a final farewell from ship to passenger. “The passengers are walking up the dock.”

Mako turns, missing the sly smile Asami gives Korra in response to Korra’s previous grin.

Putting his hand to his forehead to shield his eyes from the sun, Mako finds a large number of Earth Kingdom citizens are getting off the ship. It makes sense - the ship did come from the Earth Kingdom (soon to be democratic republic) after all. Mako isn’t surprised. Well, not by the passengers, anyway - what does surprise him is the sharp pang he felt when he realized it might take a while to find Wu in the chaos. He’d already waited so long, couldn’t the universe just let him take a break?

The universe decided to give Mako a break, and the break in question simultaneously gave him a headache and an ear-to-ear grin. 

The break in question was a several meter tall stack of green, embroidered luggage that included a very familiar-looking bag. Next to the mountain of luggage, a small figure what shilouetted next to a large, evidently hairy figure that looked like a bear.

A few moments later, Mako found out that the larger silhouette looked like a bear because it was one. Why a calm, large bear was standing next to Wu - because it was Wu, standing next to his giant pile of luggage - was beyond Mako, but he was intent on finding out. So was Korra. And Asami.

“This is Bilbo! He’s introverted, accidentally fell in love with adventuring, and decided he needed to make better life choices. So he’s hanging out with me!” Wu’ hair is glinting in the sun, his eyes like golden honey, or fresh caramel. He’s grinning, too. A wide, satisfied grin that says, _I’m sharing because I love you all._

Mako is grinning back. Korra and Asami went to stand on the edge of a calmer portion of the dock, giving each other - and Mako and Wu - those same sly grins as earlier. Mako ignores them. He can’t deal with the implications right now. 

“Mako? You good?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I’m good. How are you?”

Wu’s grin widens after a short pause, and Mako’s insides melt. “You’ve already asked me that, Mako, old buddy. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Mako nods a little to excessively, grins a little too widely. _Of course I’m fine,_ he wants to say. _I’m with you._ But as much as he wants to say that, he can’t. Not here, not now, and besides - he can’t deal with what those feelings mean. What they are. 

Mako realizes - too late - that he’s been staring into Wu’s eyes for a little too long. With a little too much- no, he won’t say it.   
_With a little too much love,_ a traitorous section of his mind says, unbidden. _Love._

_No,_ the rest of Mako’s mind thinks. _I don’t think that. I don’t-_

“Shut up,” Mako’s throat strains with the effort of pushing his thoughts down. “Shut up!”

He opens his eyes to see Wu staring at him, looking like he’s been slapped in the face, possibly by a wet towel. “I’ll just- okay.”

“No wait-“ but Wu’s not listening. He’s already walking away, and something inside Mako shatters as he sees Wu walk away, quiet as stone, his usual energy gone. A moment of indecision, and Mako’s legs are moving, following Wu as he walks silently down the dock. 

Wu’s skin is warm against Mako‘s arm as Mako catches up, walking at the same slow pace as Wu.

“Listen, Wu, I-“

“No, it’s fine. I get it. You don’t want to talk to me. I’ll go- I’m not upset.”

“Wu, seriously - listen. I wasn’t talking to you, I was-“

Wu waits. And waits. “You were what?”

A shaky breath. He’s already committed - he can’t turn back now. “I was talking to myself.”

“Yourself, Mako? But you weren’t doing anything.”

“I- well-“ another deep breath. “I was... thinking about... something.”

“Oh. I get it.” Wu doesn’t say anything else, but Mako hears the silent, _You really didn’t want to talk to me._ Tacked on to the end.

Oh, well. He’s already committed. Besides - if anyone’s worth the risk, it’s Wu. “No, wait, see, it was something I was scared to admit, and my own brain wouldn’t stop yammering about it, and I was scared to admit it, so I tried to tell my brain to be quiet, but I accidentally said that part out loud - to you - and I really didn’t mean to, I-“

“Hold on a second there, Mako - what were you scared to admit?” 

Mako swallows. “I- You’re-“ he swallows again. Why is this so hard for him? Why can’t he- why can’t he put this endless, infinite essence that burns and glows and hums and aches day after day after day into words? 

Actually, when he puts it like that, he can see why it’s so hard to do. He realizes, for once, why people stick to a simple string of words; he can’t quantify this feeling. And he’s afraid to try to. 

“I love you, Wu.”

And Wu’s blinking and throwing himself into Mako‘a arms and whispering, “Finally, finally,” and Mako’s pulling him close and holding him tight and he’s never, ever, letting go.

And he won’t ever need to; Wu’s been where he always has, where he has been the whole time. Mako’s heart.

And Wu says, “I love you too.”

And Mako finally learns what it’s like to fly.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos appreciated! Let me know about any spelling or formatting errors (again, written on my phone)


End file.
